Last night I went to watch a dance drama "The Legend of Hou Yi and Chang Er". When my sister first called me and told me that she has complimentary tickets for this, I was a bit skeptical. I thought, 70 minutes of traditional chinese dancing? Hmmm... not my usual cup of tea. But it was VIP seats, and they are worth RM50 and it might be a good experience, who knows? I'm always up for something new. Plus its free. I'm a sucker for free stuff. Lol free samples, free food, free this free that, I'll definitely be there! So I decided to go all the way to civic hall in PJ. To take an hour to get there for an hour's show and another hour to get back. =p My brother came along too, which was great. It's nice to be travelling alone so much less now.
70 minutes it was, and it was AWESOME! Whatever skepticism I had earlier on just vanished. It was so good, from the elaborate costumes to the acting and the dancing. Extreme attention was paid to the details and it shows. I especially LOVE the bad guy. It's amazing how they can tell a story without even saying a word. It was just dancing, and yet the choreography was so imaginative that they can weave a legend just by movements. The background scenes were so authentically chinese, and so beautiful. I loved the way the light was in the opening scene, where the purple blue pink hues softly blends together with the silhouettes of the trees casting its shadows upon the sheets of the background. And I loved the darker parts of the dance drama. The suns that looked like monsters, the evil look of the bad guy and his varied expressions, how he was laughing behind the fan and then pulling his face straight to pretend to be good. It was very very artsy and the travelling time was worth the effort. It was really great.
For those of you who don't know the legend of Hou Yi and Chang Er, here is a synopsis (taken from an ad of this dance drama)
"In ancient China, there was once a hero named Hou Yi, who was a great general and the best archer around. Hou Yi’s wife was the beautiful and elegant Chang Er, who had a close relationship with the ten Suns, who she treated as her own children.
One day though - thanks to the evil scheming of Hou Yi's adviser Fong Meng - the ten Suns decide to go out to play, but end up causing chaos on earth, which became dry, causing the lands to crack and resulting in much suffering to the people. This angers Hou Yi, whose duty it is to look out for his people, so he seeks to punish the 10 Suns.
He succeeds in shooting down nine of the Suns, but the tenth survives thanks to the interference of Fong Meng, who ends up getting killed. Hou Yi is exiled from earth for killing the nine Suns, but when Chang Er finds out about this, she struggles with him and ends up taking his place for the punishment, and flies to the moon."
When I got back to the hostel, during the short walk from the gate to my block, I noticed the full moon shining brightly against the night sky. For once, the sky was a deep navy blue, the colour that I have never seen of KL skies before. KL skies are always reddish at night because of haze, light pollution, and floating dust/dirt particles. Last night the skies were so clear that there were stars that actually twinkled in the sky. As I looked up towards the night sky, I just thought that it was so beautiful. It seemed so raw and untouched that for a moment I forgot everything else that has been clouding my mind. I even forgot that I am in KL, in a busy bustling city, because for once in these many days, I felt so peaceful. The slight cool breeze calmed me, and yes, I am okay now.
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